


Unfreezing Hearts

by Scree_Kat



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Brief mentions of Elsa's traumatic childhood, Frozen rewrite, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23393443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scree_Kat/pseuds/Scree_Kat
Summary: Jack didn’t hear much from the Man in the Moon. But he’d learned that sometimes, that urge to fly left when he’d intended to go right was as close to conversation as he was ever gonna get. Usually, it was a gentle, if niggling instinct, but sometimes?Sometimes the Moon was determined.
Relationships: Elsa (Disney) & Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. Prologue

The Man in the Moon saw all.

He heard all, too, mostly because children were rather talkative, and had a habit of chattering away to him whenever the mood presented. 

He didn't mind, even if it got repetitive. 

When you were as old as he was, it was simple enough to see how every story would play out. Usually, it was simple enough to look away, to let each story meander on as intended. After all, if he began to involve himself, where on earth would it end? He would spend eternity frantically trying to fix every little problem, overthrowing the natural balance of things in his efforts.

He wasn't naive, though. Balance was a tricky sort of a beast, and sometimes refusing to interfere would cause too much harm, far more than he could cause with even the worst of his meddling. While he could not solve every problem for the talkative little children he so loved, he contented himself with only meddling when his refusal would cause too much harm to those he had vowed to protect. After all, he brought the Guardians into being, didn't he? He created them to meddle, to keep the children safe. Aside from nudging them in the right direction as required, he tried not to get involved.

Sometimes, though, that was impossible. 

The girl didn't talk to him. She didn't talk to anyone, mostly. Her little sister, though? So filled with loneliness and confusion, the little girl begged him for help. And for once, the Man in the Moon didn't have the heart to say no. 


	2. Chapter 2

Jack didn’t hear much from the Man in the Moon. But he’d learned that sometimes, that urge to fly left when he’d intended to go right was as close to conversation as he was ever gonna get. Usually, it was a gentle, if niggling instinct, but sometimes?

Sometimes the Moon was determined.

He’d been flying towards Germany, ready to bring some fun, when the urge to turn left hit so hard he’d dropped feet in the air, clutching his chest and remembering the feel of Pitch’s magic, the sudden shocking pain of it, so cold it burned and clawed and tore at him. It felt scarily similar.

It took far too long to remember that Pitch was gone and he was safe, so long he almost crashed into the forest he'd been cheerfully flying above. Recovering his balance, and shooting an unimpressed glare towards the moon, he obeyed the unspoken command. It wasn’t like a detour was the worst thing in the world, right?

Arendelle by night was beautiful, the lights low and the sky alive with stars. Normally, Jack would pause, savour the view or at least try to settle on one form of mischief to bring into being. It wasn’t quite time for snow here, not yet, but a dose of unseasonable weather wouldn’t be _that_ bad, surely? But there was something wrong in Arendelle, something miserable and desperate and so utterly wretched that the idea of fun seemed downright inappropriate. And didn’t that thought give him pause?

There was pain here, the sort that seemed so out of place with the beauty, the sort that radiated outwards from the middle of the town. The castle, perhaps? It felt… cold. The sort of bone deep cold that made even Jack Frost shiver uncomfortably.

Once upon a time, he’d probably have run, let it be someone else’s problem. But that… that was a long time ago. So instead, he forced himself to fly towards the castle, expecting it to be frozen solid from sheer proximity to whatever- whoever- was calling out to him so unknowingly. Jack wasn’t a psychic, didn’t know things the way Tooth always knew exactly where each of her fairies needed to go, or North knew who was naughty or nice, but he had the sneaking suspicion that the window ledge covered in ice on an otherwise mild evening was probably the one he needed.

The room was opulent, if empty. At least, it was empty aside from a small bed and far smaller girl huddled in the corner of her room. Ice radiated out from where she was curled, twirling into patterns both beautiful and incredibly sad. He wasn’t sure what to say. Sure, children could see him now, but it didn’t exactly make it easier to talk to them. He doubted it would be easier after wandering into her room to interrupt her crying. She was so, so small, small enough to remind him of his youngest sister. She was too small to be so sad. 

He was opening his mouth, ready to reveal himself, when the sound of the door unlocking forced him into the shadows. A man and a woman, well dressed enough that he assumed them to be the King and Queen crept inside, hesitating before walking towards the girl. He could taste their fear, and the almost hidden undercurrent of disgust.

He hated them instantly. Hated them more when they stopped well away from the girl, refusing to even step over the fractal patterns on the floor, seemingly oblivious to the relieved, hopeful look on the girl's face at their arrival that fell away instantly as she looked at the pair. He couldn't see their faces, but he doubted they looked happy to see her. 

‘Elsa, what did we tell you?’ The man's voice was rough, jagged as frozen rock and about as welcoming. Jack found himself wanting to step between him and the girl, to protect her even though this creep wouldn't even know he was there. 

‘I tried, Daddy. I’m sorry!’

‘You cannot leave this room until you’ve mastered this, Elsa, please. You need to try.’ If he hadn't known the woman was afraid, he'd assume her voice was shaking with worry for her daughter. But for all the cajoling and false sweetness of her words, she'd kept her distance from Elsa, as though she couldn't stand the thought of being near to her. 

A flash of devastation, almost immediately hidden by Elsa, and the young girl straightened her shoulders as though readying to argue. ‘I am trying, I swear. Please, just let me out!’ The man shook his head, turning and walking from the room without a backwards glance. The girl, Elsa, reached out for her mother.

The woman flinched away.

The little girl couldn’t hide her devastation anymore, and Jack felt the sudden mad urge to freeze the woman in place, the way she’d frozen her daughter. Before he could do, say, anything, the man was back, holding a pair of metal… things, that made the girl gasp and try to scurry back further into the wall.

‘You almost killed your sister. If you cannot control yourself, you will be controlled Elsa. You have a week.’ The adults rushed away, the only sound the soft thunk of colliding metal, and the clicking of the lock.

There was no loud sobbing, not a single sound from the girl, just the shaking of her shoulders as she lowered her head back to her knees. The room grew colder. 

Now or never.

‘Well that seemed awful.’ She raised her head in surprise, eyes widening to see him. They could almost be siblings, she had his pale skin and hair, and icicle eyes that seemed to beg for mercy. He felt a jolt of affection for the tiny little mortal. ‘Are you okay?’ She shook her head, so slightly he doubted she'd even noticed the gesture, but seemed content to otherwise ignore his question. That she seemed to think her welfare so unimportant broke his heart a little. 

‘Who are you?’ She didn’t call out for help, which seemed odd given how afraid she was. But then again, she’d just been threatened by her parents. Who would she call for, anyway?

‘Jack Frost. I think I might be able to help you.’

The desperate hope that filled her expression broke his heart far, far more. 


	3. Chapter 3

Her first thought was that she should scream. She even opened her mouth to try, but reality hit like an iced snowball, and she closed her mouth before the first sound would emerge. 

Who would come, anyway? The staff couldn't get in, even if they hadn't been ordered out of the tower and were too scared to come back. Her parents were the only ones with a key to the lock. She could scream all day, and no one would come near (she'd tried, on a day when Anna had been taken on an adventure. It took days to get her voice back). Her parents? They weren't likely to race in to rescue her. They'd probably be glad to be rid of her. The only one likely to hear and care was Anna, and the idea of her baby sister racing in to... whatever was happening chilled her in the way few things could. So she settled for squaring her shoulders the way her mother had taught her back before everything went wrong, and tried to pretend she wasn't afraid. 

Would her power protect her? Possible, but she didn't trust herself not to destroy the palace in the process, and the idea of hurting Anna again? No, she'd take her chances with whoever the boy was. Heart pounding so loudly it was a wonder he couldn't hear it too, she took his measure, mind rabbiting between ideas about what on earth to do to escape. Barefoot and basically dressed- a thief perhaps? But no, he carried a Shepard's crook, not ropes or bags or anything useful for scaling a tower and carting off valuables. 

'Are you okay?' She faltered at the question. When was the last time someone asked her that? Had cared about her answer? _Anna._

No, she wasn't okay. Had she ever been, though? She wasn't sure how long she'd been trapped, but it hadn't taken long for memories of the world outside the room to begin to fade, to be tarnished beneath wondering if her parents had ever actually wanted her around. As she tried, failed, to come up with an answer, her gaze shifted towards his hand, and her mind went blissfully blank. 

His hand, pale and slim, leaned against the glass of the open window. Ice patterns seemed to grow outwards from his palm, swirling and delicate and so different from the sharp fractals of the ice that grew outwards from where she sat. Her parents had said that there was nobody else alive with her powers (she tried not to think long about the way they'd said it, like there was no natural death for people like her)... could they be wrong?

_Please, let them be wrong._

'Who are you?' 

He bowed low as he introduced himself, his smile playful and just a teensy bit wicked. And the idea that he could help her? Surely she couldn't be so lucky.

'How?'

'I'm like you.' A barely there wave of his hand, and snowflakes drifted lazily between them. 'Mostly. Honestly, I don't know how similar we are, but if there's something I can do to help you, I'd like to.' He shrugged like he hadn't just said the first kind thing she'd heard in what felt like forever, like her world wasn't veering off kilter at the sudden rush of something that felt suspiciously like hope. 

'Please.'

He held out his hand, the wickedness of his smile fading into something soft and kind. She found herself grabbing his hand, trusting him far more than she knew she should. 

'Then let's have a little fun.'

*

She hadn't known what to expect, but Jack helping her to climb onto the window sill was a surprise. 'I need you to trust me, just for a little while, okay? It'll be scary at first, but I won't let you get hurt.'

'What are we going to do?'

There was that mischief again, like he couldn't quite help the urge to play more roughly than she was used to. 'We're going to fly.' Princesses shouldn't stand, open mouthed, but just this once Elsa thought it was acceptable. _Fly?_ 'How?'

'The wind is a friend of mine. It'll take us where we need to go, but until you get used to it, I'm gonna need to hold onto you, is that okay?' For a moment, he looked unsure, but then the dazzling grin was back, brighter than before. It looked a lot like the smile she wore when she was trying to be what her parents wanted, needed, her to be. 'We can stay here if you'd like, we can learn just as easily here as somewhere else, but I thought you might like to get out of that room?' 

She felt herself move before she could stop herself, leapt and felt cool arms wrapping tightly around her. And then they were in motion, swooping downwards and then up, twisting and turning and dancing through the wind currents and away from the castle. 'Open your eyes, kid.' She hadn't realised she'd closed them, she'd been too busy enjoying the feeling of being near to someone without feeling their fear curled about her like manacles. Outside the castle, the world was beautiful. Dark, with lights glittering like stars below them as they soared above the kingdom and towards the forest. Above them, the aurora, pink and green ribbons dancing and twisting, so bright it almost hid the stars from view. 

Slowly, they began to descend, Elsa watching Jack's carefree smile as he moved them safely back to the earth like he'd spent a lifetime doing it. She supposed he probably had. Jack waved skyward, calling out a thank you. 

Though it seemed a little odd, she mimicked the wave, calling a gentle 'Thank you, wind' and feeling a small breeze dance across her face and hands in reply. She closed her eyes and savoured the feeling of freedom. It had been so long since she'd been outside, as as soon as she opened them, her eyes darted around, trying to drink everything in as Jack laughed softly beside her. 'We'll come back, I promise. For now, though, what's your name, kid?'

'Elsa.' 

'It's nice to meet you Elsa.' He paused, paused so long that she wondered if the conversation was over and she could go explore. But finally, he cleared his throat. 'Will you tell me what that was all about? What were those metal things?'

She had known that sooner or later, he would ask. But the words faltered, unspoken on her tongue. Once he knew, he would hate her, just like her parents did. No one, not even someone who had the same powers, wanted to be friends with a monster! Worse, he could control his powers! Admitting that she couldn't? That she'd thought she could and could have killed Anna?

A hand on her shoulder drew her from her panic, and Jack's kind blue eyes met her own without hesitation. 'I promise you, there is nothing you could say that would make me hate you or not want to help you. You can tell me anything.'

So she did. She told him about that night, about playing and suddenly everything going wrong. That her sister's memory of the night was gone, and Anna being kept as far from her as possible. About being forced to stay still all day as painfully tight restraints were created, metal encasing her hands forever if she couldn't figure out her powers, if she had another accident. All of the fear and guilt and self-loathing tore loose, and Elsa hadn't realised she was crying until she couldn't speak anymore, simply wailed as Jack hugged her tightly, the only sign he was speaking the rumble of movement as she pressed her face further into his neck. 

She hadn't meant to do it. She'd only been trying to make Anna happy, and now she'd lost everything. But as her crying began to fade, and Jack's promise that she was safe, and he was going to help her started to make sense, she began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, it wasn't too late. 

Maybe there was a happy ending to her story, after all. 


End file.
